Description
Signed on the backside of the booklet. Cd is ex
Few bands were great from the beginning. It usually takes some momentum to get a band going in the right direction, which can be as simple as a line-up change or as complex as a musical epiphany. In the Washington DC quintet, Darkest Hour’s, case, it was probably replacing bassist Raul Mayorga with Billups Allen, as this was the only line-up change between the band’s previous EP, “The Misanthrope”, and this second EP, but we will never really know. The band sounds so much different here that it’s almost astounding, having included influences from death metal, thrash metal, and black metal, all tied together with a very minimal metalcore influence (more of the Converge vein than the Killswitch Engage vein as well), making for a truly awesome listen. John Henry’s voice has gone from boring metalcore shouts to raspy, black metal shrieks, and Matt Maben’s drumming now includes blast beats, thrash beats, and fills. The riffs are much more prominent in the songs themselves, with each song being absolutely filled with them. While the band had not yet hired a lead guitarist, so therefore there are no solos, the songs are just fine the way they are, with some even partially predicting the band’s later, more progressive sound (the 6-minute “The Curse” being the best example). As well as four fist-flinging metal songs, we have two ambient tracks, “Broken Wings (Pt. 1)”, and “Coda Xiii”, both of which are worth a listen as well. “Broken Wings” is a beautiful, withdrawn instrumental acoustic number, and “Coda Xiii” is a five minute keyboard track, with some faint whispering in the background behind all the ambience. It’s kind of creepy, but it’s a fitting end to the EP. My only complaint is that it’s overall too short, but it’s still a mammoth of an EP, and defiantly an early gem as far as metalcore (if you could really call it that) is concerned. So check out The Prophecy Fufilled today
Track list:
1. Choir Of The Prophecy Fulfilled
2. Reflections Of Ruin
3. Broken Wings
4. This Side Of The Nightmare
5. This Curse
6. Coda XIII